﻿New reports state that Arms-Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) face being shifted into the housing association sector in a bid to improve their ability to ‘invest, diversify and innovate’ under plans drawn up by the Government.

This option was presented in yesterday’s Open Public Services reform White Paper launch by the Prime Minister.

The Government wants to open up the delivery of public services to the private and voluntary sector and has housing in its sights.

By making public services more open it says it will give more freedom and professional discretion to those who deliver them, and provide better value for taxpayers’ money.

The paper said the Government will consult on how to ‘stimulate’ more openness and innovation in public services through new types of providers within the public sector, where this will improve services and give better value to the taxpayer.

This is to include, whether semi-autonomous public sector bodies should now be made fully autonomous.

Most ALMOs have now completed their Decent Homes programmes and in the process of having their contracts reviewed by their councils.